1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a character recognition apparatus and method, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for recognizing a character image from an image or picture screen.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile terminals have recently developed the capability of transmitting high-speed data. In particular, mobile communication networks based on an International Mobile Telecommunication-2000 (IMT-2000) standard can implement high-speed data communications using small-sized mobile terminals. The data for performing the data communications can be packet data and image or picture data.
As a keypad with limited capabilities is used when the above-described mobile terminals receive input information, a character input method is complex. When the mobile terminals use an input unit based on a soft keyboard, a character input rate is slow and a character input method is very complex. Thus, a character recognition device and/or speech recognition device can be used to address a drawback of the soft keyboard. However, there is a problem in that character recognition and input rates are slow where a handwritten character recognition device is used. Similarly, when the speech recognition device is used, there is a problem in that only a limited number of words can be recognized. For this reason, a keyboard input unit including a separate hardware device can be used to input characters. However, the above-described method has a problem in that an additional device for inputting characters must be provided in the mobile terminals.
Currently an image processing function is added to the mobile terminal and hence the mobile terminal can have a composite function. In this case, an image processing device of the mobile terminal includes a camera for detecting an image and a display unit for displaying signals of the image picked up by the camera. Here, the camera can use a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) image sensor or a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor, and the display unit can use an Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). As small-sized camera devices have been developed, image pickup devices are currently miniaturized. In this case, the mobile terminal can perform an image pickup operation, display a moving picture and a still picture on a screen, and transmit detected images. However, the mobile terminal equipped with the camera performs only functions of detecting, storing, managing and transmitting images or pictures.
The mobile terminal can be a mobile phone or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). In a character input method of the PDA, characters based on a soft keypad are input with a stylus pen or characters are input through handwritten character recognition. However, where a large number of characters are input by the conventional character input methods, users feel inconvenienced because of a slow process rate and the complexity of the process. In particular, when contents of a card bearing a person's name and other information are input into the PDA, a lot of time and effort are required. Thus, a method capable of improving current input methods or facilitating the convenience of the users is seriously required.